Family of five, including 4-year-old girl, are viciously attacked by a ‘rabid bobcat’ at an Arizona campground leaving them covered in scratches and bite-marks
- The victims, aged between four and 63, were staying at the Shannon Campgrounds in Mount Graham Sunday when they encountered the creature
- the little girl was attacked first by the cat, spurring her family members to kick, hit and pull at the animal in a bid to get it off of her
- Eventually, the cat ran off. But in its wake it left a number of bite marks, scratches and cuts to the victims’ hands, thighs, faces and heads
- Officials from Arizona Game and Fish have now shut down Shannon Campgrounds and another site nearby as they conduct a search for the creature
A four-year-old girl and four of her family members have been left injured after they were attacked by a ‘rabid’ bobcat at an Alabama camp site.
The victims, aged between four and 63, were staying at the Shannon Campgrounds in Mount Graham when they encountered the aggressive creature at 7:30pm on Sunday evening.
In a news release the Graham County Sheriff’s Office revealed that the little girl was attacked first by the cat, spurring her family members to kick, hit and pull at the animal in an attempted to get it off of her.
One of the victims, 34-year-old Tyler Ray described to deputies how he was ‘rolling on the ground with the bobcat’ at one stage, at the cat continues to try and attack the girl.
The victims, aged between four and 63, were staying at the Shannon Campgrounds in Mount Graham when they encountered the aggressive creature at 7:30pm on Sunday evening
In a news release the Graham County Sheriff’s Office revealed that the little girl was attacked first by the cat, spurring her family members to kick, hit and pull at the animal in an attempted to get it off of her
Another woman described the moment the cat was separated from the toddler, only to lunge at her instead.
Eventually, the cat ran off. But in its wake it left a number of bite marks, scratches and cuts to its victims’ hands, thighs, faces and heads.
They were checked out at the scene by paramedics and later drove themselves to the hospital to be examined more thoroughly.
The additional victims were identified as being the girl’s father, two of her uncles and a teenage girl.
Officials from Arizona Game and Fish have now shut down Shannon Campgrounds and another site nearby as they conduct a search for the creature, which remains at large, who they believe has rabies.
The say the animal must be caught and destroyed before it can strike again.
Officials from Arizona Game and Fish have now shut down Shannon Campgrounds and another site nearby as they conduct a search for the creature, which remains at large, who they believe has rabies (pictured: an official of AGF laying traps in the park)
The behavior it exhibited in Sunday’s attack was ‘extreme and bizarre’, officials remarked, insisting a healthy bobcat would never act that way.
‘This is not someone coming across a bobcat and quickly being bit and the bobcat running off, this is sustained attacks on human beings,’ Arizona Game and Fish Spokesperson Mark Hart told KGUN9.
‘A bobcat is going to be more interested in an antelope squirrel or a rodent, not a human being it’s too big – the child was bigger than the bobcat,’ he continued.
The young girl, who has not been named, was treated for rabies exposure at a nearby hospital. The other four victims were issues a rabies vaccines and have all since been released.
Hart says rabies are more common in foxes, bats, and skunks but the disease can be spread to other animals.
Officials from Arizona Game and Fish remain on the scene laying traps and using predator calls to lure the bobcat out.